Julius Caesar was a famous Roman general and statesman, who laid the foundations of the Roman leadership system. He had a fascinating life at a time when much of the world was in chaos and in-fighting. He had a successful military career which was his platform to run for various elected positions. Like all rulers, there are many sides to every story; Caesar contributed a great deal to the development of Rome and many parts of Europe, but he was also conquering lands and people, which by virtue of war means death and destruction. History is generally more favorable toward him than not, and for this reason I thought I'd blog about this great Roman leader. This brings me to an other scintillating edition of: The Saturday Seven: Facts About Julius Caesar
1. His life was brief, just 56 years: born July 12 100 BC and died March 16, 44 BC
2. His reign of Rome was just five years, from 49 BC to 44 BC
3. Caesar is considered to be one of the greatest military strategists and tacticians in history, along with Alexander the Great, Genghis Khan and Napoleon.
4. Caesar and Cleopatra were romantically involved for 14 years but could not marry, because she was Queen of Egypt and under Roman law, marriage was only allowed between two Roman citizens.
5. Ceasar was given many accolades and honors during his leadership such as Pater Patriae (Father of the Fatherland), Pontifex Maximus (Highest Priest), and he eventually took the title Dictator. The title Dictator angered members of the Senate, who felt this challenged the very republic Caesar had created. Member of his Senate eventually murdered him famously on March 15th, which is referred to as the "Ides of March". After his assassination, he was even given the title Divus ("god") because he was so loved by the public.
6. In 85 BC, when Caesar was just sixteen, he became the head of the family when his father died suddenly while putting on his shoes one morning, without any apparent cause.7. Despite his very well known affair with Cleopatra, it was also believed that Caesar was bisexual, having had affairs with several men including Nicomedes IV of Bithynia.
And finally, just for the record, the Caesar salad was not invented by Caesar, it was developed in a restaurant in San Diego California in 1924!
-Rick Rockhill
9 comments:
oh it looks like I'm the first to comment today!!!! I was so hooke don that tv show Rome when it first started, I love ancient history like this. fun post today rick, something unexpected and different too.
#4 Of course, Caesar had a wife back in Rome, too.
Great list - makes me want to get out the DVDs of Rome again!
wow that was really interesting rick!
smiles, bee
xoxoxoxoxoxoxo
He was definitely a major influence on the western world. Great idea for a post, I may borrow the idea.
Fascinating...!
One if the GREAT Theatrical Memories for me was seeing Vivian Leigh on Broadway in Rep, with ANTHONY & CLEOPATRA-Shakespeares play, and CAESAR AND CLEOPATRA, by George Bernard Shaw....! Both magnificent plays and Miss Leigh in particular, giving superb performances in both plays....Caeser was such a dynamically larger-than-life character, it seems....!
Thanks for this post Rick...
And I believe The Caeser Salad was invented just across the Border, in Mexico, by a Famous Chef who's name was Caeser...!
I am sooo hungry right now for a caesar salad.
Having visited the German-Roman Ancient History Museum in Cologne recently and seeing a large display of artifacts, sculptures, jewels, and so on from Roman times, I felt very closely -I was able to perceive- the tremendous power emperors had; they were the heads of the most sophisticated socio-political type of organization known on Earth, and their territory was inmense... On the other hand, as you probably know, sex among men was an accepted practice and it was considered a very satisfying activity, so I'm not surprised by what you share about Julius Caesar's love life. :-)
Interesting! If the Bustsof him are accurate, he wasn't a bad looking guy. I,too, love ancient history...I wonder if they thought they were advanced in their technology..for lack of a better word...or if they ever wondered about life on other planets and such?? Just make me curious.
Let us not forget his most important contribution.....he inspired Perry White on Superman to frequently exclaim "GREAT CAESAR'S GHOST!"
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